Enough Microsoft servers to store about five million films were sunk off the coast of Scotland. — Scott Eklund/Microsoft/dpa
Software giant Microsoft has sunk a data centre in the sea off the coast of the Orkney Islands in Scotland. The company wants to use the research project to develop energy-efficient underwater data centres, Microsoft announced this week.
The data centre, which is around the size of a shipping container, is still a prototype. According to Microsoft, the 12m-long cylinder containing computers should be able to store and process data for five years without requiring maintenance.
The cold seawater surrounding the islands in the north of Scotland will naturally cool the data centre, meaning it requires less energy. However, if anything goes wrong during this period, it won’t be possible to carry out repairs, British broadcaster the BBC reported.
An underwater cable provides the data centre with the necessary supply of power from regional renewable energy sources. These include the tidal turbines of the European Marine Energy Centre, as well as wind and solar cells.
Data traffic is also transmitted via this cable. The data centre houses 864 Microsoft servers and has a capacity of 27.6 petabytes – enough space, according to Microsoft, to store about five million films.
Orkney is a major hub for research into renewable energy sources. — dpa
